Yesaya 5:6

5:6 I will make it a wasteland;

no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹ 

and thorns and briers will grow there.

I will order the clouds

not to drop any rain on it.

Yesaya 32:20

32:20 you will be blessed,

you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, ² 

you who let your ox and donkey graze. ³ 

Yesaya 44:2-4

44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –

the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:

“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,

Jeshurun, ⁴  whom I have chosen!

44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground ⁵ 

and cause streams to flow ⁶  on the dry land.

I will pour my spirit on your offspring

and my blessing on your children.

44:4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass, ⁷ 

like poplars beside channels of water.

Yesaya 55:10-11

55:10 ⁸ The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

55:11 In the same way, the promise that I make

does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. ⁹ 

No, it is realized as I desire

and is fulfilled as I intend.” ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 58:11

58:11 The Lord will continually lead you;

he will feed you even in parched regions. ¹¹ 

He will give you renewed strength, ¹² 

and you will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring that continually produces water.

Mazmur 65:9-13

65:9 You visit the earth and give it rain; ¹³ 

you make it rich and fertile ¹⁴ 

with overflowing streams full of water. ¹⁵ 

You provide grain for them, ¹⁶ 

for you prepare the earth to yield its crops. ¹⁷ 

65:10 You saturate ¹⁸  its furrows,

and soak ¹⁹  its plowed ground. ²⁰ 

With rain showers you soften its soil, ²¹ 

and make its crops grow. ²² 

65:11 You crown the year with your good blessings, ²³ 

and you leave abundance in your wake. ²⁴ 

65:12 The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture, ²⁵ 

and the hills are clothed with joy. ²⁶ 

65:13 The meadows are clothed with sheep,

and the valleys are covered with grain.

They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.

Mazmur 104:13-14

104:13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace; ²⁷ 

the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow. ²⁸ 

104:14 He provides grass ²⁹  for the cattle,

and crops for people to cultivate, ³⁰ 

so they can produce food from the ground, ³¹ 

Mazmur 107:35-38

107:35 As for his people, ³²  he turned ³³  a desert into a pool of water,

and a dry land into springs of water.

107:36 He allowed the hungry to settle there,

and they established a city in which to live.

107:37 They cultivated ³⁴  fields,

and planted vineyards,

which yielded a harvest of fruit. ³⁵ 

107:38 He blessed ³⁶  them so that they became very numerous.

He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number. ³⁷ 

Yeremia 14:22

14:22 Do any of the worthless idols ³⁸  of the nations cause rain to fall?

Do the skies themselves send showers?

Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ³⁹ 

So we put our hopes in you ⁴⁰ 

because you alone do all this.”

Yehezkiel 36:25-26

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ⁴¹  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ⁴²  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ⁴³ 

Hosea 2:21-23

Agricultural Fertility Restored to the Repentant Nation

2:21 “At that time, ⁴⁴  I will willingly respond,” ⁴⁵  declares the Lord.

“I will respond to the sky,

and the sky ⁴⁶  will respond to the ground;

2:22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil;

and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)! ⁴⁷ 

2:23 Then I will plant her as my own ⁴⁸  in the land.

I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah).

I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’

And he ⁴⁹  will say, ‘You are ⁵⁰  my God!’”

Yoel 2:21-26

2:21 Do not fear, my land!

Rejoice and be glad,

because the Lord has accomplished great things!

2:22 Do not fear, wild animals! ⁵¹ 

For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass.

Indeed, the trees bear their fruit;

the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest. ⁵² 

2:23 Citizens of Zion, ⁵³  rejoice!

Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! ⁵⁴ 

For he has given to you the early rains ⁵⁵  as vindication.

He has sent ⁵⁶  to you the rains –

both the early and the late rains ⁵⁷  as formerly.

2:24 The threshing floors are full of grain;

the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil.

2:25 I will make up for the years ⁵⁸ 

that the ‘arbeh-locust ⁵⁹  consumed your crops ⁶⁰  –

the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust –

my great army ⁶¹  that I sent against you.

2:26 You will have plenty to eat,

and your hunger will be fully satisfied; ⁶² 

you will praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has acted wondrously in your behalf.

My people will never again be put to shame.

Amos 4:7-8

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. ⁶³ 

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field ⁶⁴  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

4:8 People from ⁶⁵  two or three cities staggered into one city to get ⁶⁶  water,

but remained thirsty. ⁶⁷ 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Zakharia 8:11-12

8:11 But I will be different now to this remnant of my people from the way I was in those days,’ says the Lord who rules over all, 8:12 ‘for there will be a peaceful time of sowing, the vine will produce its fruit and the ground its yield, and the skies ⁶⁸  will rain down dew. Then I will allow the remnant of my people to possess all these things.

Zakharia 10:1

The Restoration of the True People

10:1 Ask the Lord for rain in the season of the late spring rains ⁶⁹  – the Lord who causes thunderstorms – and he will give everyone showers of rain and green growth in the field.

Maleakhi 3:10

3:10 “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse ⁷⁰  so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the Lord who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all.

Matius 6:33

6:33 But above all pursue his kingdom ⁷¹  and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matius 6:1

Pure-hearted Giving

6:1 “Be ⁷²  careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. ⁷³  Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Titus 1:8

1:8 Instead he must be hospitable, devoted to what is good, sensible, upright, devout, and self-controlled.

[5:6]  ¹ tn Heb “it will not be pruned or hoed” (so NASB); ASV and NRSV both similar.

[32:20]  ² tn Heb “by all the waters.”

[32:20]  ³ tn Heb “who set free the foot of the ox and donkey”; NIV “letting your cattle and donkeys range free.”

[32:20]  sn This verse seems to anticipate a time when fertile land is available to cultivate and crops are so abundant that the farm animals can be allowed to graze freely.

[44:2]  ⁴ sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.

[44:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)

[44:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[44:4]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term בֵין (ven) is usually taken as a preposition, in which case one might translate, “among the grass.” But בֵין is probably the name of a tree (cf. C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 133). If one alters the preposition bet (בְּ) to kaf (כְּ), one can then read, “like a binu-tree.” (The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supports this reading.) This forms a nice parallel to “like poplars” in the next line. חָצִיר (khatsir) is functioning as an adverbial accusative of location.

[55:10]  ⁸ tn This verse begins in the Hebrew text with כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר (ki ka’asher, “for, just as”), which is completed by כֵּן (ken, “so, in the same way”) at the beginning of v. 11. For stylistic reasons, this lengthy sentence is divided up into separate sentences in the translation.

[55:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “so is the word which goes out from my mouth, it does not return to empty.” “Word” refers here to divine promises, like the ones made just prior to and after this (see vv. 7b, 12-13).

[55:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “but it accomplishes what I desire, and succeeds [on the mission] which I send it.”

[55:11]  sn Verses 8-11 focus on the reliability of the divine word and support the promises before (vv. 3-5, 7b) and after (vv. 12-13) this. Israel can be certain that repentance will bring forgiveness and a new covenantal relationship because God’s promises are reliable. In contrast to human plans (or “thoughts”), which are destined to fail (Ps 94:11) apart from divine approval (Prov 19:21), and human deeds (or “ways”), which are evil and lead to destruction (Prov 1:15-19; 3:31-33; 4:19), God’s plans are realized and his deeds accomplish something positive.

[58:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he will satisfy in parched regions your appetite.”

[58:11]  ¹² tn Heb “and your bones he will strengthen.”

[65:9]  ¹³ tn The verb form is a Polel from שׁוּק (shuq, “be abundant”), a verb which appears only here and in Joel 2:24 and 3:13, where it is used in the Hiphil stem and means “overflow.”

[65:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you greatly enrich it.”

[65:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[with] a channel of God full of water.” The divine name is probably used here in a superlative sense to depict a very deep stream (“a stream fit for God,” as it were).

[65:9]  ¹⁶ tn The pronoun apparently refers to the people of the earth, mentioned in v. 8.

[65:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for thus [referring to the provision of rain described in the first half of the verse] you prepare it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix attached to the verb “prepare” refers back to the “earth,” which is a feminine noun with regard to grammatical form.

[65:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “saturating” [the form is an infinitive absolute].

[65:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “flatten, cause to sink.”

[65:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “trenches,” or “furrows.”

[65:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “soften it,” that is, the earth.

[65:10]  ²² tn Heb “its vegetation you bless.” Divine “blessing” often involves endowing an object with special power or capacity.

[65:11]  ²³ tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural blessings.

[65:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.”

[65:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “drip.”

[65:12]  ²⁶ tn That is, with rich vegetation that brings joy to those who see it.

[104:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from his upper rooms.”

[104:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “from the fruit of your works the earth is full.” The translation assumes that “fruit” is literal here. If “fruit” is understood more abstractly as “product; result,” then one could translate, “the earth flourishes as a result of your deeds” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB).

[104:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”

[104:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).

[104:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”

[107:35]  ³² tn The words “As for his people” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity. The psalmist contrasts God’s judgment on his enemies with his blessing of his people. See the note on the word “enemies” in v. 39 for further discussion.

[107:35]  ³³ tn The verbal form appears to be a preterite, which is most naturally taken as narrational. See the note on the word “turned” in v. 33.

[107:37]  ³⁴ tn Heb “sowed seed in.”

[107:37]  ³⁵ tn Heb “fruit [as] produce.”

[107:38]  ³⁶ tn “Bless” here carries the nuance “endue with sexual potency, make fertile.” See Gen 1:28, where the statement “he blessed them” directly precedes the command “be fruitful and populate the earth” (see also 1:22). The verb “bless” carries this same nuance in Gen 17:16 (where God’s blessing of Sarai imparts to her the capacity to bear a child); 48:16 (where God’s blessing of Joseph’s sons is closely associated with their having numerous descendants); and Deut 7:13 (where God’s blessing is associated with fertility in general, including numerous descendants). See also Gen 49:25 (where Jacob uses the noun derivative in referring to “blessings of the breast and womb,” an obvious reference to fertility) and Gen 27:27 (where the verb is used of a field to which God has given the capacity to produce vegetation).

[107:38]  ³⁷ tn The verbal form in this line appears to be an imperfect, which may be taken as customary (drawing attention to typical action in a past time frame) or as generalizing (in which case one should use the English present tense, understanding a move from narrative to present reality).

[14:22]  ³⁸ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel), often translated “vanities”, is a common pejorative epithet for idols or false gods. See already in 8:19 and 10:8.

[14:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Is it not you, O Lord our God?” The words “who does” are supplied in the translation for English style.

[14:22]  ⁴⁰ tn The rhetorical negatives are balanced by a rhetorical positive.

[36:25]  ⁴¹ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

[36:26]  ⁴² sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

[36:26]  ⁴³ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

[2:21]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “And in that day”; NAB, NRSV “On that day.”

[2:21]  ⁴⁵ tn The verb עָנָה, (’anah) which is used throughout 2:23-24, is related to the root I עָנָה (’anah), “to answer, listen attentively, react willingly” (BDB 772 s.v. 1.b; HALOT 852 s.v. ענה 3.b).

[2:21]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and they.” In the Hebrew text the plural pronoun is used because it refers back to the term translated “sky,” which is a dual form in Hebrew. Many English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NRSV) use the plural term “heavens” here, which agrees with a plural pronoun (cf. also NIV, NCV “skies”).

[2:22]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Jezreel.” The use of the name יִזְרְעֶאל (yizré’e’l, “Jezreel”) creates a powerful three-fold wordplay: (1) The proper name יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) is a phonetic wordplay on the similar sounding name יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra’el, “Israel”): God will answer Israel, that is, Jezreel. (2) The name יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) plays on the verb זָרַע (zara’, “to sow, plant”), the immediately following word: וּזְרַעְתִּיהָ (uzéra’tiha, vav + Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person feminine singular suffix: “I will sow/plant her”). This wordplay creates a popular etymology for יִזְרְעֶאל meaning, “God sows/plants,” which fits well into the agricultural fertility imagery in 2:21-23 [2:23-25]. (3) This positive connotation of יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) in 2:21-23[23-25] reverses the negative connotation of יִזְרְעֶאל (“Jezreel”) in 1:4-5 (bloodshed of Jehu in the Jezreel Valley).

[2:23]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “for myself.”

[2:23]  ⁴⁹ tn The Hebrew text, carrying out the reference to the son born in 1:8-9, uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here; some English translations use third person plural (“they,” so KJV, NASB, NIV, CEV) in keeping with the immediate context, which refers to reestablished Israel.

[2:23]  ⁵⁰ tn The words “You are” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are implied. It is necessary to supply the phrase in the translation to prevent the reader from understanding the predicate “my God” as an exclamation (cf. NAB).

[2:22]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “beasts of the field.”

[2:22]  ⁵² tn Heb “their strength.” The trees and vines will produce a maximum harvest, in contrast to the failed agricultural conditions previously described.

[2:23]  ⁵³ tn Heb “sons of Zion.”

[2:23]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”

[2:23]  ⁵⁵ tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק , moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.

[2:23]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “caused to come down.”

[2:23]  ⁵⁷ sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.

[2:25]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “I will restore to you the years.”

[2:25]  sn The plural years suggests that the plague to which Joel refers was not limited to a single season. Apparently the locusts were a major problem over several successive years. One season of drought and locust invasion would have been bad enough. Several such years would have been devastating.

[2:25]  ⁵⁹ sn The same four terms for locust are used here as in 1:4, but in a different order. This fact creates some difficulty for the notion that the four words refer to four distinct stages of locust development.

[2:25]  ⁶⁰ tn The term “your crops” does not appear in the Hebrew, but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.

[2:25]  ⁶¹ sn Here Joel employs military language to describe the locusts. In the prophet’s thinking this invasion was far from being a freak accident. Rather, the Lord is pictured here as a divine warrior who leads his army into the land as a punishment for past sin and as a means of bringing about spiritual renewal on the part of the people.

[2:26]  ⁶² tn Heb “you will surely eat and be satisfied.”

[4:7]  ⁶³ sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.

[4:7]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “portion”; KJV, ASV “piece”; NASB “part.” The same word occurs a second time later in this verse.

[4:8]  ⁶⁵ tn The words “people from” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:8]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “to drink.”

[4:8]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “were not satisfied.”

[8:12]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “the heavens” (so KJV, NAB, NIV). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “skies” depending on the context.

[10:1]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “the latter rain.” This expression refers to the last concentration of heavy rainfall in the spring of the year in Palestine, about March or April. Metaphorically and eschatologically (as here) the “latter rain” speaks of God’s outpouring of blessing in the end times (cf. Hos 6:3; Joel 2:21-25).

[3:10]  ⁷⁰ tn The Hebrew phrase בֵּית הָאוֹצָר (bet ha’otsar, here translated “storehouse”) refers to a kind of temple warehouse described more fully in Nehemiah (where the term לִשְׁכָּה גְדוֹלָה [lishkah gÿdolah, “great chamber”] is used) as a place for storing grain, frankincense, temple vessels, wine, and oil (Neh 13:5). Cf. TEV “to the Temple.”

[6:33]  ⁷¹ tc ‡ Most mss (L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy mae) read τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ (thn basileian tou qeou kai thn dikaiosunhn aujtou, “the kingdom of God and his righteousness”) here, but the words “of God” are lacking in א B pc sa bo Eus. On the one hand, there is the possibility of accidental omission on the part of these Alexandrian witnesses, but it seems unlikely that the scribe’s eye would skip over both words (especially since τοῦ θεοῦ is bracketed by first declension nouns). Intrinsically, the author generally has a genitive modifier with βασιλεία – especially θεοῦ or οὐρανῶν (ouranwn) – but this argument cuts both ways: Although he might be expected to use such an adjunct here, scribes might also be familiar with his practice and would thus naturally insert it if it were missing in their copy of Matthew. Although a decision is difficult, the omission of τοῦ θεοῦ is considered most likely to be original. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

[6:33]  sn God’s kingdom is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong.

[6:1]  ⁷² tc ‡ Several mss (א L Z Θ Ë¹ 33 892 1241 1424 al) have δέ (de, “but, now”) at the beginning of this verse; the reading without δέ is supported by B D W 0250 ˹³ Ï lat. A decision is difficult, but apparently the conjunction was added by later scribes to indicate a transition in the thought-flow of the Sermon on the Mount. NA²⁷ has δέ in brackets, indicating reservations about its authenticity.

[6:1]  ⁷³ tn Grk “before people in order to be seen by them.”